


The Stars Look Very Different Today

by overlookhotel



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-01-29 18:29:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21414703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overlookhotel/pseuds/overlookhotel
Summary: Phineas and Captain Lilith work together to revive the Hope’s colonists.
Relationships: The Captain/Phineas Welles
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

Lilith’s hands were shaking from the copious amounts of Adreno she had plunged into herself during the fight with the mechanical. She knew she was bleeding through her armor, the blood dripping onto the clean steel floors of the office, but she couldn’t feel it. Her mind was focused on one thing only; rescuing Phineas Welles. She clutched Akande’s key, sliding it through the reader as quickly as she could and nearly breaking off the lever to open the door of the cell. Lilith’s chest tightened as the door slid open and Phineas stepped out. He opened his mouth to talk, but Lilith grabbed him by the shoulders before he could say anything. 

“Are you okay? What’d they do to you?” She asked, scanning her eyes over him for any sign of injury. Phineas smiled weakly.

“I’m fine, my friend, thanks to you. You must be insane to storm Tartarus for a crazy old man like me,” Phineas said. Lilith breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around him, pulling close to his chest and hugging tight. She felt Phineas stiffen for a moment before his arms found their place around her waist. She relaxed a bit, relieved, albeit surprised, that he was okay. The corners of Lilith’s vision throbbed red and she began to feel the pain blossoming in her stomach. The Adreno had to be wearing off. She stumbled back for a moment, barely hearing the frantic voices of Phineas and her companions.

Lilith sat up with a sharp inhale, her head spinning. She felt a hand steady her shoulder as her eyes floated back into focus.

“Easy there boss, you’re gonna open the stitches,” Ellie chided, taking her hand off Lilith’s shoulder. Lilith looked over to Ellie.

“What happened? Is everyone okay?” Lilith asked, eyes trailing around the room, which she quickly recalled as the common area of the Unreliable. 

“You had a real nasty wound on your stomach, Felix said it was from some mechanical you guys cough on Tartarus? Anyway, it’s all patched up now but you’ll probably wanna keep some Adreno handy,” Ellie explained. “Felix and Nyoka are doing fine, they had a few cuts and bruises but nothing big,” she added. Lilith nodded. 

“Where’s Phineas? Is he okay?” Lilith asked. 

“I’m right here, Lilith!” She heard Phineas exclaim. She looked over and saw him putting down some contraption to walk over to her. “Are you feeling okay? There’s something we need to talk about.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, what do we need to talk about?” Lilith asked. Phineas sighed and helped her to her feet, keeping a hand on her elbow. 

“Perhaps we should discuss it in private,” Phineas suggested. Lilith quirked an eyebrow, confused, but nodded and walked with him to her quarters. Once there, Phineas sat in the desk chair and Lilith placed herself on the desk itself. 

“So…” Lilith began awkwardly, suddenly very nervous at what it was Phineas had to tell her. Phineas took a deep breath and began. 

“Earth has gone dark. No one’s gotten a transmission there for three years, and a few months ago, the Board sent a frigate there, and it never came back. No one knows if it even made it to Earth, Law; no one knows if Earth even exists anymore,” Phineas explained. Lilith sat still for a moment, eyes wide, before letting out a deep breath. 

“What do you think happened?” She asked quietly, mind racing with a thousand more questions she needed to ask. 

“I don't know, no one knows. In fact, we’re the only people who even know that something’s wrong with Earth,” Phineas said. “Akande and the rest of the Board were keeping it all very under wraps.” He added. 

“So...we’re completely alone out here? No one’s coming to help Halcyon?” Lilith asked in a voice barely above a whisper. Phineas nodded grimly. “Shit.” 

“That’s why we need to start reviving the Hope’s colonists, they’re truly the only chance Halycon has!” Phineas’ voice was rising with nearly every word, desperate in tone. 

“I know. We’ll start as soon as we can. It’s just…” Lilith trailed off, trying to process the information that had just been thrown at her, as well as trying to gather the nerve to confront Phineas with the information she found in his lab. “Phineas, I know about the other colonists.” 

Phineas leaned back in the chair, running a hand over his face. “I’m sorry, I never meant to keep it from you. I didn’t want to put that pressure on you, I couldn’t. My mistakes were my burden to bear, not yours.” 

Lilith closed her eyes for a moment, letting out a shaky sigh. When she opened her golden eyes, she gently took Phineas’s hand. “I forgive you,” she said. Phineas looked surprised and opened his mouth to speak, but Lilith cut him off. “You could’ve told me, you know? I wouldn’t have been upset. I do have a question though, I was hoping you could answer?” 

“Of course, anything,” Phineas leaned in slightly, gently squeezing Lilith’s hand for her to continue.

“How can you be sure the dimethyl sulfoxide will work again? I mean, I know it worked on me, but what if the Board was right? The subjects they had in that lab, they had been frozen and unfrozen, yeah, but they weren’t frozen for nearly as long as I was. And obviously I’m here, but what if the other colonists are too far gone?” Lilith rambled on, her words speeding up as she felt panic rise in her chest. What if it had all been for nothing?

“You can’t think like that, my friend. It will work. It has to. Come with me when we get to the Hope, and I’ll show you,” Phineas attempted to reassure her. Lilith smiled weakly and stood up, hugging him tight again. It felt strange, having physical contact with this man who she had only observed from behind a wall of bulletproof glass. Now he was warm underneath her arms where before he had been this intangible thing. It was clear Phineas was not used to this either, if his quickened heartbeat was any indicator. They stayed like that for a moment before pulling away, faces inches apart. Lilith’s face grew bright red and she quickly averted her eyes.

“We should, uh, we should head to the Hope, yeah?” Lilith asked, stepping back. Phineas nodded, his face red as well, and practically darted out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: body horror

Phineas and Lilith stood in the Hope’s elevator. Lilith poured over her notes she had taken on the colonists and the revival process. She and Phineas had revived four colonists so far with no major issues. Still, Lilith felt a heavy anxiety in her chest as they went to revive the next one. 

“Are you sure you trust me to wake up this next colonist?” Lilith asked. Phineas had done the bulk of the process for the first colonists while Lilith had helped where she was needed. 

“Of course I do, my friend. You’re a talented scientist, I wouldn’t have asked you to help me if I didn't think you were capable,” Phineas smiled at her. Lilith grinned back and looked down at her notes again before Phineas could notice the blush that creeped across her face. She always felt a swell of pride when he complimented her scientific skills. Back on Earth, she was just a lab technician; she didn’t always consider herself as smart and talented as Phineas did. 

The elevator screeched to a halt and the two scientists stepped out into the control room. Phineas took reign of the controls and carefully selected one of the cryogenic pods. Lilith looked over the colonists notes, speaking clearly into the recorder. “Subject is Harrison Jones, 6’4, 300 pounds. Age 31. Born and raised in Adelaide, Australia. Occupation: Farmer, Dirt. Looks to have particularly high strength and melee skills. Family on board: 1 daughter, Apollonia Jones, age 8.” Lilith swallowed heavily at that last sentence, switching the recorder off. She followed Phineas to where the pod had been taken. 

“Alright, now cycle the dimethyl sulfoxide through, and open up the pod,” Phineas explained, guiding Lilith through the steps. “I’ll keep a close eye on his vitals, so don’t worry. And Lilith...you’re going to do fine. ” he added. Lilith nodded and turned to the pod, cycling the chemicals through the pod’s tubes. After a moment, the cryogenic pod opened with a hiss and the Harrison Jones’s eyes opened. 

Lilith felt like everything was happening in slow motion. Jones opened his eyes, and for a singular moment, all seemed well. Then came the screaming. Jones’s cries of agony cut through the air as his skin began to bubble. First, his skin started to melt off in chunks, revealing muscle and bone. Then, his chest seemed to collapse, causing some of his organs and a river of blood to spew out onto the floor. Still, Jones’s screams continued with a ghoulish gurgling noise. Lilith could only stand frozen in place, eyes wide and mouth agape, as Jones’s lower half seemed to liquify completely and he fell to the ground with a horrific squelch. His unbearable screams died with him in a disgusting pile of guts and gore on the floor. Somehow, the silence was more deafening than the screams. 

“Lilith…”she felt Phineas’s hands on her shoulders and saw him in front of her before she registered his voice. Even then, she didn’t respond. “Lilith?” He tried again. 

“What...what was that?” Lilith muttered, eyes not leaving the melted man in front of her. “Was that the explosive cell death? I thought-I thought you said that wouldn’t happen anymore?” 

“I’m sorry, Lilith. Truly. I’m sorry you had to see that, I’m sorry my calculations were incorrect. I truly don’t know what happened, maybe because he was so much bigger than the ones we’ve done so far? Perhaps he needed more dimethyl sulfoxide?” Phineas rambled, desperately trying to rationalize what had just happened for both their sakes.

“Damn it, Phineas! He had a daughter on the ship, what’s gonna happen when we unfreeze her? What if I was right, and the process only works on some people? 6 successes out of 15,000 isn’t exactly a good ratio!” Lilith felt tears sting her eyes as she shouted. 

“I know. But we have to keep trying. I can’t yet explain what happened with this colonist, but that doesn’t mean we can give up on the rest of them. We have to try,” Phineas said. “Come on,” he added gently as possible, “we can go back to the lab and see what we can do.” In his experience, throwing yourself into your work was the best way to deal with any problem. Lilith nodded weakly and followed Phineas back to the elevator. 

Once in the elevator, however, Lilith couldn’t hold back the rest of her emotions. She grabbed Phineas, burying her face in his worn leather jacket and sobbed. Phineas somewhat awkwardly put his arms around her and rubbed small circles on her back. “It isn’t your fault, Lilith. We can find a solution, it’ll be okay,” he whispered, telling her all the things he wished he could’ve told himself after each catastrophic failure he had caused. 

Lilith held onto Phineas tighter; she didn’t want to sound irrational, but they were truly the only two people in Halcyon who understood each other. He felt like home to her, and she slowly began to accept that they could solve anything together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to turn this into something of a slow burn, so let me know if you want this story to continue!

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t published fic in years, but I really loved the outer worlds and it made me want to write something! Any feedback is appreciated!!


End file.
